JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE: RISING SWARM
by nameless5766
Summary: Growing up on the streets is tough. Especially if you're Down With The (Stand) Sickness. Follow the adventures of Joelle Jackson as she makes a name for herself one way or another with the power of her Stand.
1. The Sickness: Prologue

The streets of Chicago were a dirty, damp, musty place, haunted by addicts and insects alike. Inside one of these streets, lying upon a thin mattress, was a small girl with brown hair, and bright hazel eyes. She moved feverishly, sweat dripping down her cheeks and hair. This was Joelle Jackson, one of the many homeless orphans that lived on the crowded sidewalks.

_'She's been sick for an awfully long time now… I don't know how much longer she can hold out.'_ Georgie thought as he mopped his friend's brow with a lukewarm cloth. Joelle had been sick for almost two weeks, going on a month. With a doctor's help, she might have gotten better much quicker, but that was a luxury for people with _money_. Money people like them couldn't make in a lifetime, and that the druggies were more intent on using for their fix instead.

The small girl rolled over in bed, groaning softly. Georgie swatted at a centipede crawling up the side of her pillow. In the claustrophobic alleyways they called home, insects were everywhere, and he didn't want any nasty bugs to make Joelle even sicker than she was. "Hey, get off."

"Still nothing, huh? Shame." Another voice, older. It came from one of the teenagers they lived with. Georgie shuddered. Mackenzie, or Mack as she was known, was one of the notorious bullies that plagued the streets of Chicago. She was a notorious kleptomaniac, and took it upon herself to steal absolutely anything and everything she could. Unfortunately, it was one of the things that kept a lot of them fed at night. But even so, Georgie didn't like it. Mack was also notorious for her outbursts of anger, and would often pick fights with anyone, even the younger children. Georgie had the scars to prove it. So did Joelle.

"Yeah… I'm worried she might not make it." The child stood in front of the paper thin mattress that kept Joelle off the damp concrete, as if to protect her from Mack. He didn't want the teen to hurt his friend.

"Lemme see her. I might be able to… help." The klepto gave a wide grin, one that usually appeared before her customary beat downs. Needless to say, Georgie wasn't enthusiastic about letting her near Joelle.

"No." The boy glared up at Mack as she walked closer, her torn steel toe boots making tiny 'psh' noises as they hit the small puddles that hid inside the cracks and potholes of the alleyway.

"What was that you little punk..? When I say something, you LISTEN!" The girl lashed out with her leg, kicking the small boy aside, causing him to wince in pain as her foot collided with his left arm and ribs. On the bed, Joelle stirred, groaning as she rolled over again, speaking for the first time in weeks, voice dry and cracked from heat.

"G-Georgie…" Then she collapsed, too weak to do any more. Sweat beaded along her brow as, unknown to everybody around her, her body shimmered slightly, clumps of black and grey smoke began to pour from the edges of her body, slowly coalescing into a spectral figure sitting up on the bed. A leg, covered in tattered pants, ending in a pale grey foot. A body, with asymmetrical brown straps like animal hide running across the chest. A head, masked by a pure black cloak. Then, finally, a face! A metal mask, shaped like a plague doctor, with eyes and beak glowing orange. What was this mysterious figure!? It panted heavily to itself, as if waking up from a terrible dream.

"Well Georgie? What are you going to do?! Stop me?" The astral figure looked over to the source of the voice, its orange compound eyes shifting slightly under the mask. What it saw was Mack, leaning over a cowering Georgie, shaking a threatening fist. The thing's eyes glowed brighter as it observed the scene, standing up on the bed, standing over Joelle like a guardian angel of death. A harsh, grating voice emanated from its beak, speaking to no one but itself.

**"Mack… you've truly woken up the demon you'll learn to fear. Hello… and goodbye."** Sweeping a hand out towards the girl, the city of Chicago became alive. A low whine began to fill the air, and thousands of tiny legs clicked over stone and brick, forming an uneven orchestra of skin-crawling dread. As Mack's now imminent reckoning arrived, Joelle rolled to the side again, staring up at the figure above her. Her eyes half closed, she could barely make out the flicker of clothing, the glow of the mask. Out of them all, she was the only one who would even see the figure.

As she stared up at it, she felt a tickle on her left leg and arm, giggling weakly to herself. Mack looked over, dropping Georgie from where she was threatening to punch him in the face, looking confused as a torrent of insects poured over Joelle's form, completely covering the girl in a swarm. Curiously, none of the insects bit or stung her, not that her friends could tell. Both Mack and Georgie screamed in terror, and that scream only heightened in pitch as a buzzing swarm of flying insects descended from between the cracks in the buildings. In just a few seconds, the entire alleyway had been cloaked in a blanket of hard exoskeletons and clicking legs.

The specter who was standing over Joelle's body cackled gleefully, insects swirling

around its form menacingly, giving the terrified children a vague look at the shape of the figure. It was just as tall as Joelle, with an androgynous look to it, unable to make out male or female qualities. Even its voice was a heavily distorted growl, as if spoken through radio static.

**"Who's on top now, huh..?"**

Stepping off the bed, it walked towards Mack, visible only by the footprints in the swarm of bugs that moved to avoid its feet. Reaching out, the stand grabbed Mack by the shirt, ignoring Georgie altogether. Joelle was young, and thus rather short, but her attitude was miles tall, and it showed. The angel, as she would come to call it, was as tall, if not taller than Mack, its beak nearly an inch from her face. Bugs swarmed up the black specter, giving it both a nightmarish visage, and a visible appearance to the children. Mack was quietly whimpering now as bugs crawled up her legs and settled on her arms and head, making tiny jerking motions to try and throw them off, without success.

**"...URRRAAAAGGGHHHHHHH!"**

Clenching its fist, the angel smashed its pale fist into the girl's stomach several times, roaring in anger, keeping her held by her neck. After keeping the beatdown going for around ten seconds, its right leg lashed out, bringing Mack to one knee with a well placed kick and a brutal headbutt. For the finishing blow of physical attacks, the angel grasped the teenager by the sides of her head and slammed it onto its knee, leaving her face bloody on the ground. The insects and arachnids residing on her skin, including such deadly critters as the black widow, brown recluse, and Joelle's favorite arthropod, the bark centipede, were venomous, and began to bite and sting her relentlessly, eliciting a high pitched scream of agony from their former bully. Georgie watched, his eyes as large as quarters as Joelle's angel cackled to itself, raising its arms high into the air, a buzzing mass of insects swirling in a tight ball shape just above its hands. Mack's writhing stopped quickly, the effects of an excess of venom coursing through her veins. Given how venomous the widow and recluse were, deep tissue necrosis was bound to set in within a few minutes.

"Georgie..?" The 'angel' returned to its user, who was now sitting up in bed, rubbing her eyes. Joelle slid out from under the covers, her once brown hair now a light grey. The newly awakened Stand user walked over to her friend, seemingly unaware of the surplus of bugs in the surrounding areas, who were scattering back to the shadows, taking little bits of their former bully as food. Georgie did his best to avert his eyes from the gruesome sight, instead focusing on his childhood friend. Her fever appeared to have all but vanished, and her hazel eyes glowed with an inner light, like a raging fire within. "Are you okay?"

"I… you…" The boy didn't have time to explain, passing out on the spot, falling limply into Joelle's waiting arms.

**TO BE CONTINUED—**


	2. The Sickness: Chapter 1

Joelle was out of a home. Her murder of the community's second biggest source of income was apparently too grave a sin to allow her to continue living with the group. So she cleaned out her box, and was living solo. Well, not exactly solo. She still had her guardian angel, or so she called it. It appeared whenever she called it, and it sometimes talked to her, but usually just listened to her. She also had her bugs! After her fever, she could somehow control insects, and other things like spiders and centipedes. Even now, she had a bark centipede perched on her shoulder, the arthropod's head waving in the air as it smelled around the area.

"You smell something?" The question was rhetorical. She could sense what the surrounding bugs were feeling, and she noticed that they had picked up a reasonably fresh dumpster in one of the alleyways. She seamlessly navigated the pathways, accompanied by the scuttling crawl of her tiny friends. As she approached the dumpster, her bugs alerted her of somebody coming to throw her trash away, an old woman by the sense of her pace and posture. Joelle crept into a nearby doorway, peering around the edge where the old woman was going to appear. And soon enough, she did. She was hobbling along on a wooden cane, struggling with a large bag of trash. Padding alongside her was a pure black cat. The cat was quite interesting. The shape was amorphous, with tendrils of darkness billowing off of it, and just above the cat's neon green eyes, a second pair of yellow ones glowed brightly.

"Disturbed… whatcha make of this?" The Stand's upper half manifested over Joelle's shoulder, the long curved beak poking out next to her head. She had long since established that normal humans wouldn't be able to see the 'angel', so she wasn't worried about the old woman seeing it. What did worry her though, was the cat, especially when it looked over at her and hissed, causing the woman to look over as well.

"Hmm? What is it Sebastian..? Did The Void detect something again?" She set down her bag of trash, beginning to slowly make her way over to the cat.

"**Not worth running for it. Act innocent."** Disturbed advised its user, fading back into Joelle. With a quick sigh, the girl stepped out of her hiding spot, playing the part of run-of-the-mill homeless kid. She stalked sideways around the woman, trying to make herself seem as passively hostile as possible. 'Sebastian' hissed at her again, the cat's four eyes glaring at the girl. Disturbed's arm manifested over Joelle's, the Stand clenching its fist. Slowly, but ever so surely, every bug in a two mile radius started to crawl inward like a hurricane, centered around the small girl.

"Now now, there's no need for that look. I don't mean you any harm, dear." The old lady said, waving her cane around in the air as she reached down to pet the cat. It purred, rubbing against her hand. The green eyes closed, but the yellow eyes never left Joelle, staring ominously.

"Your cat doesn't seem to think so." Joelle kept her distance, clouds of mosquitoes gathering on the rooftops around them, a slight feedback whine made by thousands of tiny wings shivering through the air. Underneath the orphan's feet, little legs scraped at the dirt, carving out tunnels in the dirt just below the pavement.

Oblivious, the woman waved her hand dismissively, Sebastian sitting passively at her feet like an Egyptian god, his head held high and proud. "Nonsense! He's just a bit cranky today, it must be the weather. Regardless, my dear, I'm just here to throw away my garbage. Would you care to give these old bones a break?" She chuckled to herself, her piercing green eyes closing. Joelle gasped, suddenly realizing that she had been holding her breath that entire time.

'_What..! This woman… she hadn't acted hostile in the slightest, but I feel like I'm facing down some punk with a knife! Who is she..?_'

"Yeah… okay." The young girl went over to grab the woman's trash, hauling the bag over her shoulder. It was heavy, but with a grunt and a helping hand from Disturbed, she managed to heft it into the dumpster with a dull thump. The old woman's eyes twinkled, while Sebastian hissed slightly, his second pair of yellow eyes narrowing.

"Oh, calm down you poor thing." Maria scooped Sebastian up into her arms, the cat becoming passive again, although his eyes didn't relent. Joelle glared at him, to which the feline gave an aloof face.

"Would you care to join me for tea my dear? I'd be a rather poor host if I didn't at least try to repay you for your help." The old woman spoke up again, her entrancing green eyes snaring the young street urchin in their grasp. Try as she might, she just couldn't seem to look away.

"...Yeah, alright."

A short walk later, Joelle and Maria were sitting in a velvet red room that smelled like black tea and incense. It was sparsely lit, throwing shadows over both of their faces. Sebastian's eyes glared out from the darkness, to which Disturbed responded by snarling, its own pair of masked orange eyes glowing like the compound eyes of an insect above Joelle's head. Both women ignoring the shenanigans of their familiars, the elder spoke first.

"What is your name dear? I am Maria Inanis, and this is my cat, Sebastian." Maria reached a hand down, scratching behind the feline's ears. A dull purr rang from his throat as Sebastian arched his back, nuzzling her hand.

"...Joelle. Joelle Jackson." The orphan kept up her facade of toughness for a few more seconds, unwilling to relax her guard. "Why did you talk to me? For all you knew, I was a violent street urchin. I could kill you now, and steal all your stuff."

Maria laughed, the old woman rocking back and forth in her chair as Sebastian lifted his head into the air, opening his mouth to reveal razor sharp teeth, the cat making a strangled hissing noise as if he were joining his mistress in laughing. They kept laughing for a while, before petering out, Maria wiping a tear from her eye. "Oh my dear girl, you have no idea… this whole time, it was you who was in mortal danger. My stand, The Muse, could've finished you off at any time, in conjunction with Sebastian's Void. But there's no need for such hostility. I genuinely wanted to repay you. After all, you're homeless, aren't you?"

"...A 'stand?' What's that?" Joelle leaned forward in her chair, pointing at Sebastian. "Is that what he is? Is my angel a stand?" Disturbed fully manifested, its ragtag, cobbled together form even more fearsome in the low lighting, grimly backlit by an orange glow surrounding Joelle's body. Its fists clenched as it glared at Maria and Sebastian, a dull growling rumble coming from under its mask, like a raging fire.

"Hmm… from the look of it, yours is a close quarters combat stand… your range shouldn't be more than two meters. Tell me this, have you named it, and does it have any special abilities?" Maria stood up with a groan, hobbling over to inspect the stand. It looked down at her menacingly, a blast of steam hissing from its beak.

"It's called Disturbed… and I can control bugs." With a hum and a click, the insects and arachnids inside the house stirred slightly, but made no move to swarm either of the two. They simply stayed there, waiting for a command.

"Disturbed… child, you have had a hard life. Even your stand ability is to crawl amongst the vermin and filth. But remember, where one insect is crushed underfoot, another might sting that foot. What I'm saying is, you need friends! How old are you?"

"Eight…" Joelle stared at Maria with curious eyes. She was no stranger to being part of a team- working together was essential to survive without a home- but she couldn't say she'd had many friends. Really, besides Georgie…

Maria reached across the table, putting a hand on the child's shoulder, causing her to flinch. Disturbed however, made no move to intercept the hand. The old Italian woman smiled, her wrinkly old skin giving off the impression of a benign grandmother as opposed to an old swamp witch. "I thought so. You may act tough Joelle, but your soul yearns for companionship. What say you stay with me?"

"I…" Joelle thought for a second, Disturbed hovering over her back. It made no move to speak, and Joelle didn't ask. She knew what it would say, regardless of what she wanted. Deep in her heart, she had already made her choice.

"I will."

**TO BE CONTINUED—**


End file.
